Alexa has been with a global telecommunications company for 15 years, most recently as an upper mid-level leader in the company’s consumer products division. Alexa took her current post in 2010. That year she led her group to earn Best Retail Operation for the region, going from worst-to-first in a single year. Along with a…
Can you determine at least three important take-aways in this story from a plant manager in India who recently learned the skill of conducting Motivational Outlook Conversations? On his first day back after his training, the plant manager noticed a Technical Service Executive in the lab having a discussion with an external contractor. While she…
What’s worth as much as a 25% increase in your labor force, or a 65% increase in the amount of your invested capital? A one-point improvement in your company’s management practices! That’s the shocking conclusion of in-depth study conducted by researchers at McKinsey, Stanford, and the London School of Economics that looked at more than…
Leadership development training is a smart, prudent investment that drives economic value and bottom line results. But if senior executives don’t care about development then—guess what—development will not be a priority in the company. That’s what Scott Blanchard, principal and EVP with The Ken Blanchard Companies, found out the hard way when his company lost…
Leaders in today’s organizations need to continuously balance the expectations of three different groups of people—shareholders, customers, and employees. How these three groups are ranked within a company will largely determine the type of culture the organization has. A “shareholder first” organization is very different from a “customer first” or an “employee first” company. In a…
No, the coach didn’t actually die, but if you perform a “leadership autopsy” on the recent firing of Rich Rodriquez, the former University of Michigan head football coach, I think you’ll find that the ultimate cause of his demise was that he was killed by the culture because he didn’t build trust. As a college…
Once, while sharing her thoughts on leadership, Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines (stock symbol LUV), was asked if she was worried that competitors would now be able to steal her management ideas—like writing thousands of thank you notes to employees. She said “no” because the real magic wasn’t in knowing the concepts, it was…
Earlier this week, Fortune magazine announced this year’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, an annual listing of the companies that provide employees with the best combination of pay, perks, and culture. It’s a great list that highlights some of the best employers, but sometimes the publicity that accompanies the list’s release gives people the…
The research showing the connection between leadership and the bottom line continues to strengthen. Most recently, researchers Jack Zenger, Joe Folkman and Scott K. Edinger analyzed a database of 300,000 feedback reports on approximately 30,000 managers to answer six questions: How does leadership drive profit? How do organizations and leaders maximize, if not double, profit…
Dr. Margie Blanchard, past President of The Ken Blanchard Companies who currently heads up the company’s Office of the Future, loves real work problems. That’s because when you work on real issues instead of hypothetical ones, it really sharpens the process. You also solve a problem along the way. That’s why we have included real…